Spade
Artist
Mariano Del Rosario
(American)
Date1989
MediumMixed Media
Dimensions48 × 44 in. (121.9 × 111.8 cm)
ClassificationsMixed Media
Object numberUAC2699
DescriptionOne of Mariano Del Rosario’s signature concrete paintings, Spade shows an intense interest in rigid forms and primary colors. Made in 1989, it combines concrete and acrylic paint on canvas to build up this contrast between rough materials and clean-cut standard shapes. Those shapes being squares aside from the four main yellow spades that appear so precise they may have been stenciled on. Rosario’s work favors the intellectual, and there is some of that visibility at play here as well. The center shows the primary colors and white pressed up against an incised line within the concrete, which keeps the colors inside. There is another incised line between the border and the central squares, however that really catches the eye as well, contrasting the rest of the shapes as it is made of the absence of material rather than paint like the other squares. The four spades direct the viewer to look at this line as they all point towards it as well, bringing into focus the difference in the handling of concrete versus paint which seems to be the focus of Spade.
Mariano Del Rosario is a Filipino-American painter and installation artist who lives in Brooklyn, New York. He holds a MFA degree in painting from Maryland Institute College of Art and a BFA degree in painting from the University of the Philippines. His work is inspired by contemporary art movements of the 1960’s such as Process art, as well as influence from his interests in physics and eastern philosophy. He currently works in Brooklyn, New York.
Written by Alex Heath
